A guest at the Migratory Bird Celebration on Feb. 11, 2023, learns about Guam’s endemic ko’ko’ bird, which is now extinct in the wild, at the Guam Department of Agriculture booth. The festival will take place again this year, on Saturday, Feb. 17, at Jeff’s Pirates Cove in Ipan. Photo courtesy of University of Guam ()
Avian and nature enthusiasts of all ages are invited to flock to Jeff’s Pirates Cove on Saturday, Feb. 17, for the third annual Migratory Bird Celebration. The community festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. featuring educational booths, hands-on activities, and live music and dance performances.
Hosted by the University of Guam College of Natural and Applied Sciences, UOG Sea Grant, and the UOG Center for Island Sustainability, the event aims to use science and art to inspire conservation of Guam’s native and migratory birds and the habitats they depend on.
Native birds play an important role in island ecosystems as seed dispersers, predators of pests, and pollinators of plants, but their numbers in Guam have declined due to predation by introduced species, such as brown tree snakes, and other potential factors, like pesticide usage and habitat alteration.
In addition to native birds, around 20 to 30 migratory bird species visit Guam regularly — particularly, shorebirds, seabirds, ducks, and herons — according to avian ecologist Martin Kastner. Some of these birds are beneficial as predators of pests, like rhino beetle grubs, but they are threatened by shoreline development, wetland drainage, and disturbance by feral dogs and cats.
Highlights of this year’s Migratory Bird Celebration will be bird watching and identification tours led by Kastner, habitat conservation and natural resources expertise from the UOG Center for Island Sustainability and UOG Sea Grant, a paint-your-own watercolor activity with the Marianas Audubon Society, a dance performance choreographed by Luna Schils and performed by Schils and Gabby Calvo, and a middle and high school art contest focused on migratory birds.
Visitors are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags and water bottles, and 10% of all food purchased at Jeff’s Pirates Cove during the event will be donated to the Marianas Audubon Society — a group dedicated to the protection of birds and their habitats through the Mariana Islands.
For more information on the event, please call (671) 788-6300 or (671) 735-2060.
Middle and high school art competition
Students in 6th to 12th grade are invited to participate in a first-time art competition at the Migratory Bird Celebration. Art pieces may be created in the student’s medium of choice and should highlight one of the following migratory birds of Guam:
Pacific Golden Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Eurasian Whimbrel
Pacific Reef Heron
The artwork should show the bird in its natural environment or associated with the topic of either conservation, pollution, or human-made activities. Photos and information on each bird can be found at www.uog.edu/wptrc/ebooks.
To confirm participation in the art contest and get more information, please email alvarezm12035@triton.uog.edu by Feb. 2. The pieces will be featured at the bird festival on Feb. 17, where a panel of local artists will choose the winning pieces based on adherence to the theme, the creative approach, and general aesthetics.
